Posted on by Kurt Bodling

choosing the harder part

“I admit that it is possible and necessary for many Christians to live immersed in ‘the world’ and all that it implies, but they are precisely the ones who ought to practice the most difficult asceticism.”

Merton, Thomas. “The White Pebble.” (1950) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 10.

Comment: The medieval monastics and the hermits out in wild places have been thought of as the champions, the hard-working prayer warriors, the real ascetics giving up everything for God. Merton turns that on its head by pointing out that it is actually harder to live a Christian life in ‘the world’ amidst the noise.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

purpose of contemplative spirituality

“The purpose of contemplative and mystical spirituality is to foster greater intimacy with and devotion to God, which in itself is a universal goal of all religious and spiritual traditions that are God-centered (Buddhism does not require belief in God, so in a sense it’s a philosophy). Mystical, contemplative spirituality invites us deep into the wisdom of a path without insisting that it is the only path. This is true for contemplative Christians as well as for contemplatives of other traditions.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, pp. 297-298.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

can whistling be prayer?

“All teachers of the Scriptures conclude that prayer is nothing else than lifting up the heart or mind to God. But if the lifting up of the heart constitutes the essence and nature of prayer, it follows that everything else which does not invite the lifting of the heart is not prayer. Therefore, singing, talking, and whistling, when devoid of the sincere uplifting of the heart, are as unlike prayer as scarecrows in the garden are unlike human beings. The essence is wanting; only the appearance and name are present.”

Luther, Martin. “An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer for Simple Laymen” (1519) Luther’s Works Vol. 42. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 25.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

contemplation and trances

“In genuine contemplation one normally begins with quiet and detached intuitions, simple peace, interior silence. There is little or no preoccupation with self. If one finds himself reflecting too much on himself, he instinctively breaks the false absorption by turning to a book, a picture, or some external reality or, interiorly, to some objective thought. The contemplative, too, on a bad day, can fall into a daze. But it takes the form of weariness and sleep. His deepest absorption is not trancelike, but something clean and wakeful, with nothing strained or pathological about it.”

Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, pp. 112-113.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

prayer is not obsolete

“It’s important to remember, however, that contemplation does not make other ways of praying obsolete or superfluous. If we abandon the more word-centric ways of praying, we are acting like sailors who launch a boat into the open sea without bothering to bring a compass or a GPS. Contemplative prayer needs to be anchored in an overall spiritual practice just as a successful journey needs to be guided by useful and effective navigation tools.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, pp. 286-287.

Comment: Bear in mind that the Irish monks of old launched their coracles without compass or GPS. Bear in mind that they were making an act of faith. Bear in mind that abandoning your “more word-centric ways of praying” might be an act of faith on your part.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

praying the 10 Commandments

[The 10 Commandments] "are intended to help the heart come to itself and grow zealous in prayer. Take care, however, not to undertake all of this or so much that one becomes weary in spirit. Likewise, a good prayer should not be lengthy or drawn out, but frequent and ardent. It is enough to consider one section or half a section which kindles a fire in the heart. This the Spirit will grant us and continually instruct us in when, by God’s word, our hearts have been cleared and freed of outside thoughts and concerns.

“Nothing can be said here about the part of faith and Holy Scriptures [in prayer] because there would be no end to what could be said. With practice one can take the Ten Commandments on one day, a psalm or chapter of Holy Scripture the next day, and use them as flint and steel to kindle a flame in the heart.”

Luther, Martin. “A Simple Way to Pray” (1535) Luther’s Works Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 209)

Comment: Prayers shouldn’t be wordy, wearisome affairs. Make them short. Let them set your heart on fire. And (although he doesn’t use the Latin phrase) use lectio divina. Why don’t more Lutheran pastors know this and teach this? Because they haven’t read it and been taught it, I suppose. When I was in seminary, other concerns were at the forefront.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

a heart-touching whisper

"The greatest of God’s secrets is God Himself.

“He waits to communicate Himself to me in a way that I can never express to others or even think about coherently to myself. I must desire it in silence. It is for this that I must leave all things.”

Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1958 (pbk ed 1999), p. 123.

Since God reaches out to and loves each of us individually, it makes sense that He reveals Himself to each of us in individual ways, personal ways, ways that are hard for us to talk about because they are so deeply meaningful. We all need to pay attention.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

a showcase for scripture

“The better we know the Bible, the more we are coming close to the windows, so that, without the windows having got any bigger, we can glimpse the entire sweep of the biblical countryside. Even the simplest acts of Christian worship ought therefore always to focus on the reading of scripture. Sometimes there will be space for the congregation to meditate on one or more of the readings. Sometimes there will be opportunity to respond; the church has developed rich resources of material, taken not least from the Bible itself, which we may sing, or say, by way of pondering what we have heard and continuing to thank God for it. That is how basic liturgy begins to be constructed: a showcase for scripture, a way of making sure we are treating it with the seriousness it deserves.”

Wright, Tom. Simply Christian. London: SPCK, 2006, p. 130.

Comment: Tom Wright also taught and wrote as “N.T. Wright”. I like how this paragraph clarifies how liturgical worship is scriptural worship; how if you honor the Bible, then you have to honor the liturgy. The historic liturgy in Christianity focuses on God and God’s word, not on me or how I’m feeling or what I’m bringing or what I’m thinking or doing, not on what I need or want.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the necessary voice

“So even the most prosaic of mystical writers often have something of a poet’s voice within them.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism: an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 73.

When describing the indescribable, it’s probably better to come from the direction of poetry than from prose. At least that gives one a better chance of coming close to the point. And in fewer words.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

contemplative knowing

“I would like to call contemplation ‘full-access knowing’–not irrational, but prerational, nonrational, rational, and transrational all at once. Contemplation refuses to be reductionistic. Contemplation is an exercise in keeping your heart and mind spaces open long enough for the mind to see other hidden material. It is content with the naked now and waits for futures given by God and grace.”

Rohr, Richard. The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2009, p. 34.